


An Interrupted Nap

by Oath_Of_Three_Arrows



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Don't @ Me, I just wanted to let them be happy, M/M, bicurious caspar is canon, do NOT judge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:48:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23247286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oath_Of_Three_Arrows/pseuds/Oath_Of_Three_Arrows
Summary: Linhardt gets awoken from a nap to the sound of Caspar overdoing his training again.
Relationships: Caspar von Bergliez/Linhardt von Hevring
Comments: 2
Kudos: 62





	An Interrupted Nap

The sound of Caspar’s hollering, and the repetitive clank of metal on metal, reverberated around the high stone walls of Garreg Mach. Though the boy was just in the training grounds, smacking the life out of the target dummies as if his own depended upon it, the racket was loud enough to be heard much farther afield. From the training ground his every grunt and yell could be clearly detected from the dormitories, the reception hall, dining hall, even as far away as the second floor faculty offices and the Monastery main hall. The sounds kept on relenting, and they were beginning to get on the nerves of more than a few of the pupils. Students muttered in annoyance to one another, and complained to the teachers that they found about the disturbance. The staff, though they tried to dispel the situation and explain that Caspar had as much of a right to train as the rest of them did, were equally as displeased at the disturbance. 

As the noise continued unrelentingly, it finally reached the ears of the one student in the Officers’ Academy who possessed the ability to stop it, in theory at least. Linhardt’s azure eyes flickered open and settled in an immediate frown. Trust Caspar to be the one to wake him from his afternoon nap.... Did that boy understand nothing about the importance of good sleep? It was utterly rude and unacceptable to him, and he knew that unless he went to settle it there’d be no end to the disruption. 

With a yawn, Linhardt sat up and stretched his arms above his head. His body had been so comfortable at rest that the sudden motion caused several of his joints to crack. It was a satisfying sensation, but Linhardt didn’t have time to enjoy it. He lifted himself out of his bed, pausing only to retie his ponytail in a feeble attempt at fixing the bedhead he was sporting, but to no avail. Still, there was no time to fuss. Linhardt left the comfort of his bedroom and meandered his way to the training grounds. There was no need to run, it wasn’t like Caspar was going to be going anywhere from the sound of it. 

Sure enough, as Linhardt reached the training ground, he could clearly see his friend sparring with the training dummies. Caspar had given up on his axe and the training gauntlets, and was now resorting to beating the straw and wood target with his bare fists. Linhardt winced a little at the thought of all the splinters his friend must be getting from that. It already looked like Caspar’s knuckles were bleeding from impact as well. This had to stop, Linhardt loathed the sight of blood, even more so the blood of a close friend.

“Caspar, what are you doing?” Linhardt’s tone sounded exhausted, and he was, but there was a hint of worry there too. He cared for his friend, despite how often Caspar wound him up unnecessarily and disturbed his sleep. 

Caspar didn’t even look up, and his punches continued.

“What. Does. It. Look. Like. Lin” he uttered between hits. 

“I. Am. Doing. My. Hyah!. Training! Gah!”

Linhardt sighed, raising one eyebrow and taking a cautious step towards his friend. 

“I can see that, Caspar, but you’re also clearly hurting yourself. Or has your brain not yet cottoned onto the fact that you’re bleeding?”

“I.. what?!”

Caspar’s realisation clearly only set in in that moment, as he finally stopped punching the training dummy. He lifted hands up to inspect them with a look of genuine surprise, and the next noise from his mouth was not a yell but rather a quiet and surprised “oh” of concern. Linhardt felt a pang of worry at that. He knew Caspar could get absorbed in his training, but clearly something deeper was going on here. 

Sleep would need to be postponed a little longer.

“Is everything alright Caspar?” He asked, keeping his voice calm when really Linhardt’s mind was racing to work out just what was the matter. 

“You don’t normally go this berserk in your training, not to the point of bloody knuckles anyways, just what’s gotten into you?” 

Linhardt realised he probably sounded a little harsh at that, seeing Caspar’s face fall. The blue haired boy kept staring at his hands, trying to gather himself. He sniffled, and then forced a smile up at his friend. 

“I’m just fine Lin! Don’t you worry about me! Ain’t ya due a nap or somethin’ anyways?” 

But his friend wasn’t buying it. Linhardt folded his arms disapprovingly. 

“You interrupted it, and I won’t sleep easily if I don’t get you to stop making all this racket. So for both our sakes, let’s talk it out Caspar.”

“Fine Fine! Geez Lin you really are cranky when you get woken up…” Caspar relented, folding his arms to match his companion and meeting his gaze. Linhardt still appeared displeased, and Caspar noticed faint dark circles under his eyes. It threw him a moment, as he wondered what his friend must have been staying up so late for, to have them become so pronounced. Linhardt had been sleepier than usual, so it must be big. 

“If you must know,” he eventually continued. 

“I tried to ask a cute girl from another Black Eagles class on a date with me and she laughed in my face! Said she’d never go out with a weak kid like me! Can you believe it Lin? She said I’m weak!”   
All of this was over a girl of all things? Romance was not Linhardt’s preferred area of interest, and to think that Caspar would get so pent up over a rejection was comical more than anything else. But for the sake of not further hurting Caspar’s feelings, Linhardt stifled his desire to laugh, and the corner of his mouth just twitched slightly instead. The best he could do to keep composure. 

Caspar caught it, however. The two of them had grown up together long enough to know each other’s most subtle emotions. He pouted and came right up to Linhardt’s face, their bodies touching. With their difference in height he had to crane his neck to see him, and he puffed his chest in an attempt to be intimidating. 

“Don’t you laugh at me Linhardt!” Caspar protested. 

“Did I laugh?” Linhardt’s reply was quick and sharp. “I must not have heard myself over you.”

Oh that hit a nerve. Caspar grabbed the front of Linhardt’s uniform. 

“I said don’t laugh! Just because you don’t care about this kind of thing doesn’t mean you can judge me for it! How many times have you gotten the courage to ask a girl out huh? Just what do you know about this kinda thing anyways? Bet it ain’t in any of your books!”

Linhardt jolted a little at being grabbed, but didn’t struggle or make any attempt to pry Caspar off of him, that would likely only rile the boy up even further. The outburst had caught him a little off guard, and he’d lost his usual tired expression to one of surprise at the moment he’d been tugged forward. His mind raced for an answer that might be more calming, but with how angry Caspar was getting it looked a seemingly impossible task. 

“I-If you must know,” he stammered, trying to steady his breathing. “I have had more than my fair share of rejections from men and women alike Caspar, I know how you must be feeling.” 

It was a half truth. The reality was that Linhardt had been the one doing the rejecting in all the cases, mostly because none of the people who had asked him had been of any interest to him. Not that Caspar needed to know that part. He could see his words were already having the right intended effect - that was what mattered after all. 

“You.. have? Wait.. and by guys too?” Caspar looked shocked. He let go of Linhardt’s uniform and stared up at him in shock. Blue eyes wide. 

“Yes, I have been rejected by both,” the green haired boy reiterated. 

That made Caspar pause momentarily, shutting his mouth and clearly thinking. Linhardt could have sworn he saw a flush of colour in his friend’s cheeks. Was he really blushing at that? He could have sworn Caspar had known about his romantic preferences, it wasn’t as if he’d felt any need to hide them. Was this only coming to light now? 

“So you like… girls and boys?” Caspar asked finally. 

It took every fibre of Linhardt’s being to resist rolling his eyes and replying with something extremely sarcastic. Had this been another classmate, say Ferdinand or Dorothea, he might have just let his wit work for him. But Caspar was different. Though the two frequently bickered and bantered, Linhardt was never deliberately malicious to his friend, and wouldn’t ever say something that might actually hurt his feelings. To be sarcastic in response to this might just do that, and as such he held back. 

“I do,” he simply replied instead. 

Caspar seemed to be genuinely considering this too, pausing and putting a hand to his chin. Linhardt watched as he turned to pace away from him, and then back at him. That blush was definitely more pronounced now, dusting Caspar’s face in a pink glow. It was… rather adorable in a way, Linhardt realised. He’d known Caspar since they were children, and had always assumed that they both knew almost everything about each other by now. But to see his friend, older than him no less, genuinely surprised to learn something new was quite something. 

“Is that a problem, Caspar?” Logically he didn’t think there would be any problem, but if he could tease an even darker blush out of his friend, Linhardt thought that would be most amusing. 

It worked, and Caspar’s face finally turned bright scarlet. 

“N-Not at all! You know you’re still my friend no matter what Lin! This kind of thing doesn’t change anything! I’m just amazed you've asked people out...”

“Well, more like people have asked me for their time,” Linhardt’ confessed, seeing Caspar’s eyebrows shoot upwards in shock. 

“But they’ve never been in my interests and I’ve turned them down, I’d rather sleep alone than spend time with someone uninteresting…”

Caspar riled up a little at that, grinning. The blush still prominent on his cheeks. 

“You’re just savin’ yourself for the right one? Is that it?” he quipped. 

“Is that your business?” 

“Might be, you’re my friend Lin I wanna know if there’s people you’re fancyin’!”

Linhardt couldn’t help a small laugh at that.

“Is that why you’ve gone redder than Lady Edelgard’s cape? Are you awaiting some heartfelt love confession from me?” 

Now was the time for sarcasm. 

Caspar made a noise like a cat who’d had its tail stepped on and whirled around to look at Linhardt. Blushing profusely, he struggled to form words for well over a minute, gesticulating wildly as he tried to reply. When he could see Linhardt just staring at him, one eyebrow raised and clearly enjoying his struggle even if not saying it out loud, it only made Caspar blush worse. 

“L-Lin!” he protested, finally coherent. “Don’t say that! It’s nothing like that!”

“Oh…” Linhardt just nodded, his expression returning to neutral disinterest. 

“Well if it’s just that, I’ll be returning to my room. Please don’t interrupt my nap again.”

With that, the mood dropped completely, and the green haired boy turned to leave the training ground. He didn’t look back either, letting Caspar stay behind blushing in complete confusion. He grit his teeth and clenched his fist, a mixture of confused desire to punch some sense into Linhardt, punch himself for being an idiot, or take out his annoyance on the dummies again. He opted for none of these, and frustratedly stomped one boot to the ground and yelled to the retreating Linhardt. 

“It’s not like you’d accept if I asked you to go out with me anyways huh? You’d probably rather sleep it off!” 

Caspar immediately regretted talking. Though he’d always been told he had a bad habit of opening his mouth and putting his foot in it, he now only came to realise how much he’d leapt before he looked. As the last words left his mouth, his hands flew to his mouth and he stammered incoherently, heat rising in his cheeks. Had he really just said that? And directly to Linhardt? This was beyond embarrassing! The worry of having feelings for his best friend was awkward enough - but now with that friend knowing the truth? Caspar’s eyes darted over to his companion, heart racing. 

Linhardt had stopped walking, his head turned back a little to look at him. The interested gleam was back in those blue eyes of his. Caspar could have sworn that his friend was smiling just a little as well. He flushed, stepping towards him. 

“L-Lin?”

His friend turned around fully, but didn’t move back towards him. Instead, he just put a hand to his hip and tilted his head a little. Green hair cascaded over his face and he paused to flick it back away. In truth, Linhardt was more shocked than anything. For every logical sentence he could predict would come from Caspar’s mouth, there seemed to be an endless supply of shots from completely out of left field that would render him unable to respond right away. It was a real talent of his friend. But, that unpredictability was what he liked in him, it made Caspar interesting. With a sigh, he finally took a step forward. 

“You idiot,” Linhardt replied. But it was a fond response. “How long have you been sitting on that dreadful attempt at a confession hm?” 

Caspar closed the distance between them with a few steps, lowering his voice as he spoke. 

“Long enough…” he confessed quietly. Definitely still flustered but trying not to make a huge disturbance out of it. 

“How long is, “long enough” exactly?” Linhardt the ever curious took a step towards him as well. Now they stood face to face again, Caspar looking up to him. 

“Since… well… Since the beginning of the year at least, working alongside you in class when you’re awake and well… When we are in battle together I just kept noticing how good of a team we make… Even outside of class you’ve been my best friend and the person I trust the most Lin… I just.. Didn’t know if it was meant to feel like this… or if you’d even want me to feel that way… So I tried askin’ out all the other girls in class instead but they said no so… uhm...”

Caspar trailed off incoherently, fiddling with his hands. When he finally lost track of where he was going with his rambling he simply went silent, refusing to make eye contact with his friend and staring intensely at the floor in worry. 

“You always were the type to try and distract yourself from what you really felt with training or anything else you could think of, Caspar” Linhardt replied gently. 

Carefully he reached forward with one hand to cup Caspar’s cheek, tilting his head back to look up at him instead of at the floor. Caspar instinctively leant into the touch, his hand reaching to hold Linhardt’s, face darkening with an ever growing blush. Looking up at Linhardt now, Caspar could see he was blushing too, even if only a little. Their eyes met and for a moment everything just seemed to stop. Until Linhardt broke their silence. 

“But, that’s what’s always been interesting about you Caspar. I can never quite tell what’s on your mind. It’s been something I’ve liked about you since we were young.”

Caspar almost felt like he was dreaming. For a moment he stared, mouth open just a little, and managing to nod in acknowledgement.   
“You’re… interesting to me too, Lin.” he stammered. 

Linhardt just laughed. 

“But I will be upset if you chicken out and my nap is interrupted for nothing, Caspar. I don’t devote my full attention and interest to just anyone you know…” 

Caspar was about to protest at that, when Linhardt’s face closed the distance between them. He felt soft lips meet his, and everything in his mind came to an absolute earth-shattering stop. On instinct, Caspar moved closer to return the affection. He had to stand on tip toe to reach him, but that didn’t matter in the moment. He reached up to wrap one arm around Linhard’s shoulder, fingers winding into the loose strands of green hair in his ponytail, and wrapped the other around his waist, settling against him. 

Linhardt wasn’t an experienced kisser, but clearly like everything in his life he had no intention of leading after initiating it. He returned every affection Caspar gave him, shivering a little feeling the hand stroking his hair, and wrapped both arms around Caspar’s waist to hold him close. It was a pleasant sensation, a first for him as much as it was his friend (though, logically he presumed they’d not be calling one another “friends” after this), and he almost didn’t want it to end. 

But, in the end they both needed to breathe. Caspar was the one to pull back first, but only enough to break the kiss. His eyes flickered open and he glanced up to see Linhardt still with his eyes closed, breathing gently. In a sudden moment, he thought the boy might have actually fallen asleep mid-kiss, but thankfully a moment later he opened his eyes to meet with his. They stared at each other again for a moment, both smiling and enjoying the embrace. 

“Well, that was something…” Linhardt whispered, not moving away from Caspar’s touches. 

“But you are still keeping me from my nap you know… I’m exhausted from this.”

Caspar rolled his eyes, laughing but not letting him go. He should have expected such a reply from him. 

“C’mon, we’ll go nap together alright? I think I’m done with training for today… And I did kinda wake you up in the first place…”

Linhardt looked grateful for that. He broke their embrace, but took Caspar’s hand in his, taking a step forward and pulling just a little to get him to follow. 

“Fine, but don’t think you’re getting any more attention or affection out of me until I’ve slept! I don’t have the energy!”

As if to emphasise it, Linhardt yawned as he walked. But he was clearly joking, and his hand didn’t let go of Caspar’s the entire journey. Caspar didn’t argue either, this was better than any outcome he could have expected. He knew Linhardt would be affectionate in his own odd ways, and that was just fine with him. 

“Idiot… You just want me to tuck you in,”

“Maybe I do.”

“Maybe I will.”

And on and on they continued, til they were both collapsed on Linhardt’s bed asleep. Wrapped comfortably in each other's arms and with Caspar’s head nestled in the crook of his partner’s neck. Safe and warm. Maybe bed was better with two in it after all.


End file.
